[1] According to Stefano Ticozzi, Lettera intorno a due quadri di vaste dimensioni di Antonio Canal, detto il Canaletto (Milan, 1836), quoted in W. G. Constable, Canaletto: Giovanni Antonio Canal, 1697-1768, 2nd ed. revised by J. G. Links, 2 vols., Oxford, 1976: 371. It has not been possible to locate this publication. Ticozzi called the dimensions "vast," but gave them as only 32 x 45 pollici. A pollice could be an approximate measurement, a unit roughly equal to 2.5 cm, or more commonly another term for oncia, the twelfth part of one piede. In Milan the oncia was equal to c. 3.63 cm. Thus Ticozzi's measurements would convert to either c. 80 x 112 cm or most likely c. 116 x 163 cm, both smaller than the present painting and its companion, and not exactly vast.

It is possible that the paintings Ticozzi saw were not by Canaletto, for as a Milanese writing in 1836, he may well have had less than full knowledge of Canaletto's style. On the correlation between the present works and Ticozzi's identification of the subjects as Stopani's visit to Venice see the discussion in the text.

Martha Hepworth of the Getty Provenance Index found no information about Schiuchinelli, Castagna, or Ponzio (letter of 12 April 1993, NGA curatorial files).

[2] Francis J. B. Watson (letter of 26 May 1954, NGA curatorial files) reported the following notation on the back of an old photograph in his possession: "1912 June 21, B/O C. H. Thrift SUgns (1/2 Scott) collection: Lady Baillie of Polkemmet; 1919 August 22 Bt 1/2 from McKay's exors LTT; 1925 July 14 Sold to Viscount Gabriel Chabert for LFUXX" (with 5829/6997, here 1945.15.2).

[3] Martha Hepworth of the Getty Provenance Index (letter of 2 June 1987, NGA curatorial files) discovered in the Christie's files that the paintings sold anonymously in 1912 were the property of Admiral Johnston Stewart; the admiral may have been a nephew of Lady Baillie's, whose mother was Margaret Johnston (letter of 15 March 1993 from Martha Hepworth, NGA curatorial files).

[4] Art Prices Current 5 (1911-1912): 500, and marginal notations in the NGA copy of the sale catalogue.

[5] The stock records of Tooth and Sons indicate that the painting was purchased from Thrift on 21 June 1912, as reported by Martha Hepworth (letter cited in note 3). He may have been acting as Tooth's agent at that day's sale. The stock records also confirm that the notations reported in note 2 reflect the sale of half-shares in the pictures.

[6] According to the notations reported by Watson in note 2 and the Tooth stock records as reported by Martha Hepworth in note 3.

[7] W. G. Constable (letter of 1 March 1946, NGA curatorial files) reported that he had seen the paintings in London at Arnold Seligmann's, who sold them to Barbara Hutton.

Exhibition History

1989

Extended loan for use by Secretary Clayton Yeutter, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1989-1991.

Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals, The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2010-2011, no. 35, repro., as The Courtyard of the Doge's Palace with the Apostolic Nuncio Monsignor Giovanni Francesco Stoppani and Senators in Procession, 17 April 1741 (shown only in Washington).

De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 334-340, repro. 336.

Technical Summary

The support is a plain-weave, loosely woven fabric prepared with a red-brown ground visible at the edges and through abrasion of the paint layer. A white underlayer was used beneath the architecture and sky. Infrared reflectography reveals fine, precise underdrawing for the perspective and architectural details, probably executed with the aid of a straightedge. Incised lines were also used in the architecture. The sky was painted first and then the successive layers of architecture. The figures were added over the already completed background. The paint was applied quickly wet-into-wet and is moderately thick throughout. Glazes were added for detail.

The tacking margins have been removed, but strong cusping is present around all four sides. There is abrasion throughout as well as losses. Several losses are concentrated in a 40 x 40 cm area at the right. Traction crackle is present especially in the dark glazes. The varnish is discolored with markedly discolored patches in the sky. The painting, which was lined at an unknown date, has not been treated since acquisition.